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What should I quote for a DE>EN translation?




 


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论题张贴者: Caitlín O'Connor
What should I quote for a DE>EN translation?
Caitlín O'Connor
德国

German德语译成English英语
+ ...
Jul 23

hello! I was asked to translate a contract of about 2000 words into English, i need to give a quote and have no idea how much i should quote. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is also a client that I would like to do further business with, so i do not want to overprice but i do not want to undersell myself either!

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2008-07-23 16:47]


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Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
德国
 正式会员 (自2003)

English英语译成German德语
+ ...

本论坛版主
How long is a piece of string? Jul 23

Caitlin,
I understand your situation, but the way you asked your question, there's no way anyone can answer it properly.

Thing is, we don't know your client (end client - private individual or large corporation, agency, other freelancer, ...?), the nature and complexity of the project, your experience and qualifications, etc.

The key to pricing is to know (or at least get a reasonable estimate) how much time it will take you to translate a 2,000-word project (have you seen the text? If not, you should...). Based on your desired target income per hour, you can then price the project, and break it down to a per-word price if required.

Best regards,
Ralf


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Brandis  Identity Verified
德国
 正式会员 (自2003)

English英语译成German德语
+ ...
Calculate on hourly price.. Jul 23

Hi! sometimes that is still the best idea, especially when you do not know how to quote, you go with the industrial average pricing. BR Brandis

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Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
美国
 会员

English英语译成German德语
+ ...
Caitlín, translation doesn't come with a price list as in a copy shop or a burger restaurant Jul 24

Nobody knows what your 2000 words are about. Are you going to translate personal ads for a lonely-hearts-website or are you going to translate highly classified information about the latest military aircraft, describing its unsurpassed technology in detail?

As Ralf Lemster said: "How long is a piece of string?"

Edited for typo.

[Edited at 2008-07-24 01:00]


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Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)  Identity Verified
泰国
 正式会员 (自2004)

English英语译成Thai泰语
+ ...
Pricing strategy Jul 24

In economics, I studied about pricing policy.

In translation business, I set my prices in various strategies:
1. A new/repetitive client
2. A long-term/temporary client
3. The currency I will be paid
4. Payment terms
5. Easeness of the document to translate
6. Academic value of the document (e.g. what I can personally learn out of the contexts)
7. Volume of work
8. Special format requirement of translation
9. DTP features
10. Applicable software cost

You can also set pricing you plan for your business.

Regards,
Soonthon L.


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Marcelo Silveyra  Identity Verified
美国
 正式会员 (自2007)

German德语译成English英语
+ ...
Send me an e-mail Jul 24

Caitlin, send me an e-mail and I'll help you out. Jeez, from some of the responses here, you'd figure the girl was asking how to build a nuclear reactor from an AMD processor, a jewel case, and a couple of shoestrings or something.

[Edited at 2008-07-24 08:52]


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Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
美国
 会员

English英语译成German德语
+ ...
Marcelo: "the girl"? Jul 24

Quite a gentleman, hm?

However, nobody ever discusses rates in a public forum. This question has been posted a gazillion times.

If you are convinced that you will be able to represent precise market figures, though, so be it. I see an empty profile page.


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Marcelo Silveyra  Identity Verified
美国
 正式会员 (自2007)

German德语译成English英语
+ ...
Yes, "the girl" Jul 24

It's an expression, just like "dude" or "guys" - I'm afraid you're reading into it way too much, especially when we're dealing with what is basically a non-academic forum.

Moreover, I didn't say I would give her a table of "precise market figures" and get it over with by writing a couple of sentences- I said I'd help her out. They're very different things.


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Caitlín O'Connor
德国

German德语译成English英语
+ ...
translation Jul 24

a contract of about 2000 words into English

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Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
美国
 会员

English英语译成German德语
+ ...
There is nice feature on Proz.com Jul 24

Simply go to: Directories > Freelancers. Choose the language pair, the country of residence, the field of expertise (legal), and a bunch of profile pages will be shown. Many colleagues are posting their average rates on their profile pages. This will give you a good idea of how much your fellow translators might charge.

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Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
美国
 会员

English英语译成German德语
+ ...
Marcelo: the girl Jul 24

At a combined age of 108 years, neither my husband nor yours truly appreciates to be called "girl" or "dude". It is derogatory. As long as we don't know how the lady wishes to be addressed we should maintain courtesy.

BTW, I am any telemarketer's nightmare. The ones who consider it appropriate to be on first-name-basis with a complete stranger...


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FarkasAndras
匈牙利

English英语译成Hungarian匈牙利语
+ ...
depends on how you look at it Jul 25


Nicole Schnell wrote:

At a combined age of 108 years, neither my husband nor yours truly appreciates to be called "girl" or "dude". It is derogatory. As long as we don't know how the lady wishes to be addressed we should maintain courtesy.

BTW, I am any telemarketer's nightmare. The ones who consider it appropriate to be on first-name-basis with a complete stranger...


I know more people who object to being called a lady than who object to being called a girl. But then the first group consist of exactly one person...
Most people care about things that matter.

I'm not going to suggest a price as some seem to think it's improper and I work in a different (lower priced) market anyway.


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canaria
英国
 正式会员 (自2006)

French法语译成English英语
+ ...
even being fairly long in the tooth I would prefer to be called girl than lady! Jul 25


Nicole Schnell wrote:

At a combined age of 108 years, neither my husband nor yours truly appreciates to be called "girl" or "dude". It is derogatory. As long as we don't know how the lady wishes to be addressed we should maintain courtesy.

BTW, I am any telemarketer's nightmare. The ones who consider it appropriate to be on first-name-basis with a complete stranger...


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Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
美国
 会员

English英语译成German德语
+ ...
When in Rome, do as the Romans do Jul 26

The poster of this forum is a German resident. In this case it doesn't matter what you consider appropriate for yourself. Besides, it doesn't answer her question.



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Ralf Lemster[Call to this topic]



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